Shadows of destiny
by shadow3572
Summary: 50 years after the oblivion crisis, a dark elf named Tarcoth, a member of the dark brotherhood receives a top secret task from the legendary black hand. i dont own the towns and other things originally from the game that is owned by Bethesda, i do own the characters. Warning this story contains intense graphic content and tragedy. it also contains adventure and some romance, enjoy!
1. Chapter 1: A call to arms

**CHAPTER 1**

Returning from his latest contract, the dunmer Tarcoth had just walked into the doors of the cheidynhal sanctuary when he was greeted by a wood elf named Juliana."Juliana, how are you?" " I'm fine." She smiled. "I got a letter for you."She handed the letter to Tarcoth. He just stared at it puzzled. "Who's it from?" "I don't know. Mistress Aushra just told me to give it to you." Tarcoth put the letter in his pocket. " Well, we should probably get back to our tasks. Take care dear sister." "You to brother."Five minutes later, Tarcoth was sitting in the training room reading _wolf queen, _when he was greeted by Ashura. " Welcome back dear brother, I heard your contract went well. I came to congratulate you on a job well done and give you your earnings." She reached behind her back and pulled out a medium sized coin purse, and handed it to Tarcoth. He grabbed the purse and placed it on the barrel beside him. Then he looked back at Ashura. "Mistress Ashura, can you tell me you gave you this letter?" She smiled at Tarcoth. " Why don't you read it and find out?" When Ashura left the room, Tarcoth opened the letter. Inside the letter read:

_we are pleased with your progress in the sanctuary _

_and your serviceto sithis. Come to fort Faragut alone._

Tarcoth's eyes widened. He knew what this letter meant...

The black hand is in need of his services


	2. Chapter 2: A traitor in the shadows

Chapter 2

Chills ran up Tarcoth's spine as he entered the cold desolate halls of fort Farragut. He looked around and saw two skeleton guardians wearing black chest plates. One was on the first floor, wielding an ax. The second one was on a stone bridge that ran half way across the first room, this one was wielding a bow. Tarcoth was so curious about the fort's designing and security, that he jumped back 10 feet in fright when he felt a cold touch on his shoulder. When he landed, he already had his sword drawn. But when he looked around, he noticed there was nothing there. He put his sword away and sighed. " Guess there was nothing there." "Thats what you think hehehe." Tarcoth pulled out his sword and assumed and attack position. He looked around until he found some distortion near two old wooden double doors. This distortion was in a humanoid shape. He saw what looked like a hand reaching behind their back, and pulled out something. The figure got wider for a second, then Tarcoth heard something whizz by his head. He quickly turned back to were he heard it hit. He looked and saw some small distortion in the wall. he looked closer and noticed the object was coming into focus. It was a silver arrow. He quickly turned back as the figure shot another arrow. Tarcoth dodged the arrow and grabbed it in mid-air. he put it on his belt and pulled out his shield. When the figure was reloading, Tarcoth took the arrow from his belt, aimed and threw it at the figure. Before the figure could dodge it, Tarcoth took his dagger and threw it were the figure was going to land. There was a sharp scream of pain, then the figure cam into view. it was a member of the dark brotherhood. Tarcoth starred at the wounded family member shocked and disappionted. "Dear family member, why do you betray the tenants? Do you wish to invoke the wrath of Sithis?" the family member looked at him while holding the knee that was still pierced with Tarcoth's dagger. Their voice sounded cold and serpent like when they spoke: " Your tenants tie me down no longer!" The dark family member pulled out the dagger and threw it aside. Then they shot up and pulled out their sword, ready to attack. " Why brother, why must you betray the family? After they gave you a home and their divine love and care." The member just stood there laughing at Tarcoth's words like a joke." love and care, oh that's rich. All they do is use us for prophet, they don't care about us. All they want to do is lure you ind with promise of pleasing a god of death. No all they do is bathe in their greed." Tarcoth was filled with rage at the words coming out of this foul members mouth. His blood bowling, ready to murder him at all costs. "Who are you traitor, speak it so that our dread father will have a special place for you in the void." The family member spoke with sarcasm in his voice. "Ooh, all of a sudden I've been demoted to a traitor. what happened to caring for your dear brother hmm?" He pulled off is mask to reveal the face of a male argonian. " The name's Racreith kid. like you, when i joined the brother hood i was committed to the family, willing to give my life to Sithis. But later, my contracts were getting harder and my pay was lowering. Then one day, me and a speaker were on a contract she wanted me to do. Turns out she left me in a field to rot. that is why i take revenge on them by killing members of the family. Now that you know my story, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to kill you know. But think of it this way, you wont have to suffer the same fate as me kid." Racrieth positioned himself in an attack position. Tarcoth notice that he was doing something with his tail. before he could see more, Racrieth lunged forward at him to slash him. Tarcoth deflected it and sent Racrieth in the air. But before he could do anything else, Tarcoth found himself blinded by a dust cloud. Apparently Racrieth had used his tail to throw dirt in his face. Tarcoth was sitting there trying to get the dirt from his eyes, when he heard Racrieth let out a cold hollow laugh. " Now how will you defend your self, when you can't even see me? HAHAHA! Might as well give up kid you've got no hope of survival." Racrieth came back to finish Tarcoth off. Tarcoth however, could hear Racrieth moving towards him. He was able to block the attack as soon as he heard the blade swing at him. Tarcoth was able to send him flying back. That gave him enough tim to take his shield and toss it like a disc in the direction he sent Racrieth flying at. There was a harsh scream of pain, and then silence. Tarcoth took this opportunity to search his bag for his canteen. He opened it and poured water on his eyes. He took a cloth and rubbed it on his eyes. when he opened them, he saw the bloody split body of what was once Racrieth. Apparently his shield separated his legs from his torso. The pitiful body just lay there silent. Tarcoth got up and walked over to retrieve his shield. when he passed the corpse, Racrieth's hand grabbed Tarcoth's leg. The pitiful fool just laughed and said. " you can't kill me that easily kid. Now you'll join me in death." he reached to his belt and pulled out a dagger. Before he could stab Tarcoth in the leg, something caused him to drop the weapon and let go of Tarcoth's leg. when he looked at Racrieth, he notice an arrow had pierced his head, instantly ending the fool's life. Tarcoth backed up from the corpse and starred at it in shock. Out of nowhere a voice appeared saying: That'll be all Racrieth. You've served me." Tarcoth turned to the bridge in the room. in the place of the guardian, was a black robed figure holding a well crafted silver bow. Tarcoth knelt in respect to the stranger. The figure jumped off the bridge and landed in front of him. "So you know who i am child." Tarcoth nodded and spoke: " of corse dear speaker." The stranger pulled back the hood to reveal the face of a female breton. She looked down at him and smiled. "Rise child of Sithis. You've passed the test our listener has given you." Tarcoth stood up and starred at her puzzled. "Test?" " Yes child, this was a test of your skills. To prove your worth with the black hand, Sithis, the Night mother and the dark brotherhood. We planned it by using the man you see here. He was once my silencer. He was refusing to commit any help to the brotherhood after 5 years of service. so we punished him by leaving in in a desert in Hammerfell. But somehow the bastard got back here and started to kill members of the brotherhood. we then heard of your progress and skills. So we made a deal with him. If he kills you, we would separate all crimes from his days in the brotherhood. But thanks to you his soul lies in the void. Now that you've proven your worth, i'd like you to follow me." Tarcoth followed her down a small set of halls, till they reached an iron gate. The breton pulled a lever near the gate. when the gate opened, there was a tall dark figure sitting in the room. There sat the listener of the black hand


	3. Chapter 3: A meeting of truth

Chapter 3

" Welcome child of sithis" Tarcoth Knelt before the listener. Ok kiddies time for a little lesson on the black hand. There are 5 members of the black hand, 4 speakers and a listener. Along with those members there are also silencers, personal assassins hired by each member to accomplish dangerous assignments that can't be fofilled by any regular dark brotherhood member. there's your lesson, now back to the story. "Rise dear brother." Tarcoth stood up and starred at the listener. He pulled back his hood revealing the face of another argonian male. But this one was older than Racrieth. He looked about 70 years old. He smiled at the curios Dunmer. "Supprised to see an old argonian as your listener." Tarcoth shook his head. "Not at all." He looked at Tarcoth, then the speaker, then back at Tarcoth. " Do you know why you are here?" Tarcoth shook his head. " I know that I'm needed for an assignment, but thats it." The argonian sat back and laughed. Tarcoth looked at him puzzled. " Well then we'd better inform you of what we need of you. But first, introductions are in hand. I am Gonama, the speaker next to you is Eraina. And your... Tarcoth, am i correct?" Tarcoth nodded. "Alright then, now that we got that out of the way. Its time to show you your assignment, shall we?" Gonama got up and walked to a weird looking wardrobe. He starred back at Tarcoth. "A beauty, aint she? Had her imported from a friend who lives in Skyrim. He came over here and added a few more adjustments to it." He opened the wardrobe. There was nothing inside. "Nothing right? Well, take a closer look." He pointed to a button at the top of the wardrobe inside. "See this, now watch this." He whistled, a red guard women came from behind Tarcoth and walked over to Gonama. He pointed to the button and stepped back. The slave obeyed him and she pushed the button. She fell in and the wardrobe closed and locked itself. There was a loud scream inside that slowly began to fade, and then there was only silence. Tarcoth heard the doors unlock, and Gonama walked over and opened the doors. There was nothing inside the wardrobe, no blood no scratch marks... not even the body of the slave girl. " You surprised boy? Come let me show what happened." Gonama stepped inside and motioned Tarcoth to join him. Tarcoth walked over to the wardrobe and stepped inside. Tarcoth notice some distortion on the left side of the wardrobe, it looked like a small square. Gonama slid the shape to the left, revealing another button. Gonama pushed it and immediately a bar appeared over their heads. " Quickly grab on, unless you want to join her." Both men grabbed on the bar. Instantly after, the doors closed and locked. Tarcoth just stood there confused, until he felt the floor drop from beneath them. Gonama pulled out what looked like the silhouette of a torch, and handed it to him. " Hold this for me." He grabbed hold of the torch, as Gonama was lighting it. Instantly the torch's flame came to life, Gonama pointed to the ground below them. " Ok you may release the torch." Tarcoth did as instructed and dropped it. He couldn't believe what he was starring at, the Torch he had dropped revealed a pit below their feet. When the torch hit the bottom, Tarcoth could see the Redguard slave. She had fallen what looked like one hundred feet into a pit of spikes. Finally the floor sealed up again and the doors re-opened. Both men stepped out of the wardrobe, and Gonama started to laugh. " Neat right? Had it installed for security purposes." Tarcoth starred at him puzzled. " Why would you need all this tight security on one little wardrobe?" Gonama smiled and spoke with a calm tone that sounded almost friendly. " Don't worry child, your about to find out soon." Gonama walked over to his bed and pulled it out, behind the bed was another button. When Gonama pushed the button, there was a little square shaped distortion in the middle of the wardrobe. Gonama walked over and slid it to the left like the second one. But this time the hidden security switch was a four digit code lock. " Now you already know the drill, you get the code wrong and death. But if i were to get the code correct..." He set the code and the security switch closed again. The whole wall on the inside of the wardrobe was lowered revealing the room's wall. Then the wall began to open up like a door, revealing a torch lit hallway. " Well don't just stand there, step inside." Tarcoth obeyed and stepped into the hallway followed by Gonama. On the right side of the hall near the entrance was a lever, Gonama grabbed hold of it and said: " Hold down the fort while I'm gone for me Eraina." He pulled down the lever and watched as the doors closed, the back of the wardrobe closed, and finally the wall close. Tarcoth turned towards Gonama, who had already began to walk down the hallway. He followed him down a long system of halls until they came to a dead end. Gonama knocked on the wall and watched as another code lock appeared. He set in the code and starred back at Tarcoth, who was eager to see what was inside. "You are about to see why I keep this room tightly secure." The wall slid down revealing a large room. Tarcoth couldn't believe what he was starring at. In this room was a sleeping black dragon


	4. Chapter 4 The corrupt insanity unfolds

**Chapter 4**

Tarcoth couldn't believe it, a dragon! One of the keepers of the end times, a legendary creature said to be extinct, wiped out by the blades. Gonama looked at him and smiled. " Surprised? Well, you can be, it is a beautiful creature after all. But this one has a few tricks up its sleeves. You see this is no ordinary dragon, I'm using this body to store a soul. Have you ever heard of the King of Worms?" Tarcoth nodded and starred at the dragon in confusion. Gonama continued: " Well after the university"s arch-mage killed him he gave me his soul, told me to guard it until the time was right." Tarcoth raised an eyebrow and replied: " What do you mean by 'when the time is right'?" Gonama smiled and patted him on the back. " Don't worry child, you'll find out soon enough. So that sums it up, I keep his soul here were no one will find him. But that's about to change today." He pulled out a black soul gem and handed it to Tarcoth. He put a spell on the beast and pulled out a silver sword. In one fatal slash, the dragon disappeared and the gem began to glow. Tarcoth looked at Gonama with a worried expression on his face. " Ah so you know the catch right. I'm not gonna lie to you, his followers will hunt you down for his sou, why you ask? Well, because they have his body, all they need is his soul to combine the two and he will be revived and much stronger. So you will need to be careful not to let this gem fall into their hands." Tarcoth's expression changed into confusion. " Why are you put in charge of taking care of his soul, and why do you care if he is re-born?" Gonama smiled and put a hand on his shoulder. " Well, for one thing Tamerial will be over run by his army of the undead if he comes back. And this task is a favor from me to my brother." Tarcoth thought on what he just said, his eyes widened in surprise. " Wait so that means..." " Correct child, the arch mage is my family. We stand by each other and help out when we can. Now for your task, you will find my brother at the inn of ill omen. Give him the gem and he'll instruct you on what to do next. Now quickly, we must make haste." Gonama turned and walked back to the entrance of the chamber followed by Tarcoth. They walked for 10 minutes to get back to the entrance they originally came from. Gonama pulled the lever while the walls came open in front of them. When the doors of the wardrobe opened, Tarcoth was shocked at what he was starring at. The room that once was quiet and almost lifeless, was filled with blood covered robed corpses and in the middle were five necromancers. Tarcoth looked warily around to see were Eraina was. " Where's..." Gonama pointed to his bed, Tarcoth couldn't bare the sight of what was on there. Lying in a pool of fresh blood was their beloved Eraina. She had been cut open and stabbed countless times on the stomach from the look of the wound. Her head had been sliced in half as brain and blood fall from the carcass. Tarcoth noticed something in her mouth, when he looked closer he saw her chewed up heart in there along with bits of intestine. He couldn't bare the sight of it, he turned away and allowed himself to vomit on the stone blood coated floor. Th middle necromancer turned to face the surprised visitors starring at this massacre. " Ah i see your starring at our little play mate, oh she was fun indeed. She was able to kill all these pupils, so we stepped in. My accomplices held her down while i stabbed her gut like a pig carcass, then i ripped out her heart and made her chew it. The best part was that the whole time she screamed ' Gonama! Gonama please help me! GONAMA!' then i drove a sword threw her head and cut it in half." His expression quickly changed from excited to a more serious look. " So I'm gonna cut strait to the point. We know you have our master's soul with you so I'm going to ask that you hand it over now." Gonama and stated: " And what will you do if I don't?" The necromancer looked at the others as their weapons were being drawn. Gonama waved a hand at the 5 of them and smiled. " What was all that about hmm? Do you think puny little magic tricks are gonna work on us?" Gonama motioned the arrogant necromancer to look at his followers. All but the one dropped to their knees screaming in pain, each one shouting : " Make it stop, for fucks sake make it stop!" One of them began to burst with tears and said: " Mom no! Please don't kill me!" She drew a dagger and held it to her throat screaming : " No no NOOOOOO!" With one swift motion she was dead, blood flowing like a river from the slash on her neck. Shortly after two more joined in the suicidal massacre. The last one was smashing his head against the wall until his head crack and blood began to pour all over his face. But even that didn't justify his want for death, so he froze for a minute. He drew a war hammer and lay his body on the ground, and with all his might he swung the hammer. The impact was devastating, all there was off his head were bits of skull and brain and a giant puddle of blood flowing loose. The last necromancer just stood there and began to applaud with claps. " Impressive display, that was quit a show you put on." Gonama smiled and stated " Of course and now for the main event." He snapped his fingers and all at once every corpse rose up like a bunch of rag dolls, as if he was the puppet master putting on a little show. Each body stood there starring at the necromancer with devilish crimson eyes. The necromancer looked back at Gonama, Tarcoth could see the obvious sign of fear in his eyes. " You little bastard!" Gonama stood there smiling. " Kill him." All at once each corpse let out a blood curdling howl in unison and attacked the necromancer. He drew a sword and started to slash at the corpses, but it was no use. They began to back him into a corner, while he was still trying to hold them off. " Stay back you filthy fucking animals!" They started to pile on top of him while he was shouting: " No get away, NO AHHHH!" He began to scream in agony and fear as these demonic corpses started tearing at his flesh and began to feed off of him. The screams died off and all Tarcoth could hear was the feast going on, as they tore away unwanted limbs and bone. Gonama snapped his fingers and the bodies turned to dust. In the pile of ash Tarcoth could see the necromancer's remains. His chest was torn open revealing chewed up flesh and organ. His head was nothing but a skull with teeth marks in it. One arm was missing and the other just had muscle on it. Tarcoth put his head in his hands. " You don't see that every day." Gonama started laughing and put a hand on his shoulder. " Hey at least you got something to tell your kids if you have any." Tarcoth shook his head and laughed. " All right no more time to waste, you need to hurry. At the entrance my steed Shadowmere is waiting for you. Take him and travel to the in." Tarcoth ran to the entrance of the room when Gonama stopped him. " No time, here wait a second." He went behind the banner in the room and pulled a lever. " Why do you have so many fucking security switches!" Gonama looked and smiled. " I'm a protective man." " Wait which ways?" A rope ladder appeared in room. Gonama motioned him to hurry. Tarcoth went over to the ladder and quickly climbed up. When he reached the top he found a port hole. He quickly opened it and climbed out, closed the port hole and stood for a second. He found himself inside a tree, he looked out and saw the entrance. When he reached the entrance he saw Gonama's horse Shadowmere, a shiny black horse with glowing blood red eyes. He saw that there was a bag on the side of the horse. Jumped on Shadowmere and rode off as fast as the horse could to the inn. Perched in the tree next to the fort was Gonama, sitting there watching Tarcoth's figure fade into the distance. A black robed figure appeared next to him. " Are you sure you chose right, what if he fails?" Gonama smiled. " He will prevail, I have foreseen it." His expression quickly changed to a more worried tone. " You can feel i to can't you?" " Yes, a more powerful darkness is rising. Shiroc can you help me pack my things? He looked down at Gonama and smiled. " Sure thing old friend." Both men jumped out of the tree and walked towards the entrance. " May sithis guide our young assassin on his quest." Gonama gave out a sigh and closed the doors of fort Farragut... Forever


End file.
